Kissinger Asked Back, Sources Say

Although the Government Department did not offer any position to Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger '50, overtures were made on a more informal basis through Dean Rosovsky, sources within the department said yesterday.

Kissinger, who left the Faculty in 1969, recently accepted a six-month position as a visiting professor at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service.

Stanley Hoffman, professor of Government, said yesterday that the Government department has not contacted Kissinger.

There was "no reason" for the Government Department to approach Kissinger since "the general assumption was that he would not be interested in a full-time position," Hoffman said yesterday.

'Merely Symbolic'

Calling the Georgetown position "merely symbolic," Hoffman said Kissinger simply wanted an office near Washington where he could keep his papers and do some writing.

Neither Hoffman nor Harvey C. Mansfield '53, chairman of the Government department, foresee much Faculty opposition if Harvard ever gets the opportunity to re-tenure Kissinger.

'No Factor'

"Political partisanship (among the Faculty) would not be a factor" in deciding whether or not to re-tenure Kissinger, Mansfield said yesterday.

Hoffman dismissed the possibility that the department would have offered Kissinger a temporary position, such as he will have at Georgetown. "We could not expect a former full professor to return as a lecturer," he said.